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Topic Review (Newest First)

05-18-2013 02:24 AM

Sajacobs

Any up dates? I just bought my light from build my led because of your pics and recommendation. Thanks.

05-13-2013 11:40 PM

cosm3

Very nice! What did you use to hang the lights?

04-09-2013 11:33 PM

Steve001

What's new with the tank dastowers?

02-27-2013 09:23 PM

Ashnic05

I just read through this entire thread and plan on checking out the buildmyled to see what I can come up with. Your plants look amazing!

02-17-2013 11:26 PM

dastowers

New Lighting for a 150 gallon- 6 ft open top tank.-UPDATED! GROWTH PICS!

I have six (yes 6 tanks) packed with plants now from all the growth in the 150g and a few newly purchased ones that are multiplying.

co2 and Tom Barr's EI are like crack to plants. Truly. Cheap and very easy to do. Additionally I have discus and do a 50% water change every week with RO water as my well has a TDS of nearly 750.

02-11-2013 01:28 PM

Sajacobs

Please post pics when you get a chance. After seeing the difference in your plant growth I'm considering adding co2 setup to my tank. It's great to see a newbie can be successful with it.

02-11-2013 01:15 PM

dastowers

Co2 was a bit of a learning curve. I shorten the photo period to 7 hours per day. The growth with Co2, EI and the lighting was FRIGHTENING. I couldn't cull the plants quickly enough to allow room for the discus. The Blue Hygro has leaves at nearly 6 inches long. That made a single stem almost a 8 inches wide.. The lotus grew so much I removed it and put it in the large Peacock Cichlid tank in the den.

Over the last month I have added L. Atlantis and a few other red plants. Goodness, the dozen or so stems I started with have quadrupled since they have been trimmed several times and I even moved a huge bunch to the Peacock tank. Too much.

Just ordered a great selection of plants from Tom Barr. Excited to see how these do.

01-08-2013 01:44 PM

Steve001

Quote:

Originally Posted by dastowers

Thank you for the kind comments. Yes, just switched to Co2 a few days ago and to the EI fert system. Was using Excel and Flourish over the three weeks of growth but I did have a great chance to discuss with Tom Barr my system and he suggested I read all I could about Co2 (as I was apprehensive) and make the leap. Goodness..I am glad I did.

Using pressurized co2 is a quick learning curve. Once you do it the apprehension everyone seems to have before hand disappears.

01-08-2013 01:28 PM

jart

Looks great. I guess I consider you to be a bit brave delving into the realm of LEDs when you already knew that T5HOs would do the job. I still have some research to do on LEDs. The link to the site with which you dealt (buildmyled) is helpful.

If you are experiencing that much growth, do you have any plans to dial back the light a bit? If so, will you use a dimmer or merely raise the lights a bit?

Your fish look awesome and you have a very interesting collection of plants. Keep posting pics.

PS on a tank that big, you may want to move the drop checker from time to time to make sure everything is ok.

01-07-2013 02:04 PM

dastowers

These are 75 degree angle lenses suspended about 8 inches above water. You can see a difference where the lights overlap but it is very gradual and reminds almost everyone who sees it of the sunlight streaming through the water. The rippling effect of the overflow/sump return creates beautiful dapples on the ceiling. I couldn't be happier with the choice of lights.

01-07-2013 01:53 PM

niko

Are these lights with the 30 degree angle on the LED?

When you look at the tank in real life is the middle part (where the lights overlap) lit much stronger than the sides?

01-07-2013 01:01 PM

dastowers

Thank you for the kind comments. Yes, just switched to Co2 a few days ago and to the EI fert system. Was using Excel and Flourish over the three weeks of growth but I did have a great chance to discuss with Tom Barr my system and he suggested I read all I could about Co2 (as I was apprehensive) and make the leap. Goodness..I am glad I did.

The system I decided on is a GLA Ultimate Co2 System with a 15 # cylinder. Added the Oracle Drop Checker. So to help with my learning curve -fail safe wise the tank has a bubble counter, drop checker and a ph controller. Also I am able to watch the fish VERY closely as they are in my office only 6 feet away.

01-07-2013 01:46 AM

Sajacobs

Lights are beautiful. Tank is beautiful. It's amazing to see the plants change. Even the fish stand out.